How to login as an agent in an inbound campaign in VICIdial and answer calls

This tutorial provides step by step methods to login as an agent in an Inbound campaign and manage the incoming calls in VICIdial.

In an actual campaign scenario, an agent needs to be fully trained to access their agent UI. They need to have complete information on different parts of their agent UI to get the most of the VICIdial system. This tutorial is an extended guide for the VICIdial agents. For this tutorial I will work on an existing vicidial system to show you the steps involved.

Step 1: Open the VICIdial url in your web browser. For demo purposes I am using Google Chrome, however any other browser will work the same way. For most of the installation the VICIdial url will be similar to http://server-ip/vicidial/welcome.php. You will get a screen similar to this.

Step 2: Click on “Agent Login”. This will take you to a page similar to this and prompt you to input your Phone Login and Password. An agent can get the same information from their VICIdial Administrator. You need to make sure that the Phone Login to be used by you must be registered on a Soft Phone on your PC. I am using Eyebeam in my case and registered with an phone login of 8801.

Step 4: Input your “User Login” and “User Password”. Select a Campaign Name from the dropdown field. If you don’t see any campaign name, chances are that you have used the wrong User credentials. In that case re verify your credentials or contact your VICIdial admin. In my case, the campaign dropdown looks like this.

Step 5: Select the desired Inbound Campaign and hit Submit. In my case, I chose DOC_INB Campaign. You need to ask your VICidial admin which campaign you will be logging in to. after you hit submit, the VICidial Server will send you a call on the Phone extension you used earlier. You must answer this call and keep it connected until you are logged in the Agent UI. The call made by VICIdial to your softphone is very important as it is used to transport the two way audio, i.e. from agent microphone to server and from server to Agent Headphones. If you by any chance disconnect the call made on the softphone, there will not be any audio. Since I am using eyebeam, I got a call and answered it promptly. Here is the screenshot.

Step 6: As soon as you answer the call, you should hear an audio prompt from the VICIdial server, “You are the only person available in this conference”. This audio ensures that your phone is properly connected to the server and you are successfully logged in. Here is the screenshot of my softphone after I answered the call.

Step 7: The next screen will prompt you to select the Ingroup. This step is one of the most important step while logging in as an inbound agent. Ingroup takes care of incoming call routes and if you miss this step and not select an ingroup, you will never receive any incoming even though you are logged in to the campaign. Always remember to select the Ingroup assigned to you otherwise you will be sitting ducks and never ever get an incoming on your interface. The Ingroup selection screen looks similar to this.

Step 8: In the above image you see Inbound group selection screen. On the left is the Inbound Groups available to select. You can have multiple Inbound Groups on the left if that is linked to the campaign you are logging in. In my case, I see only one Inbound group because that is the only Inbound group assigned in this campaign. You can get your assigned Inbound group info from your VICidial admin. You need to click on the Inbound Group name to select it. as soon as you click it, the Inbound group name will move to the right column which confirms that this Inbound group is selected. In my case I will click on DOC_INGROUP as this is the one I am assigned to. Here is the screenshot after I click on it.

Thus, I selected the Inbound group I am assigned to and as it is now in the right column, that will enable the incoming calls on my agent screen. Now hit “Submit”.

Step 9: You will be taken to the agent screen which looks very similar to this.

Step 10: Congrats, You are successfully logged in. But that does not make you ready to receive calls yet. If you notice on the top left area of your agent screen, it has a resume button.

Click on resume to start answering calls. If you want to go for a break or want to stop receiving calls on your screen for whatsoever reasons, click on Pause. But for all the times you wait for the call, keep your screen on Resume state.

Step 11: Look at the top right area which looks like this.

You can click on GROUPS any time to switch or select the different Inbound group. As you click on the GROUPS button, it will take you to Ingroup selection screen as mentioned in Step 7.

Step 12: As soon as an incoming calls goes in your Inbound Group, you will be notified in your agent screen. You should be ready to answer this call as it gets auto answered all the times. In case you are on paused state, it will notify with a call in queue alert, like this screenshot.

If you are ready to accept calls, the calls will come on your agent screen with the caller number, ingroup and other related information. It may or may not give an alert which depends if that has been configured by your VICidial Admin. A successful incoming call on your agent screen will look similar to this.

Step 13: Greet the caller with warmth and do what you are hired for. After the call ends, simply tag it in the proper disposition and get ready for the next incoming call.

Very soon, I will be writing another tutorial which will explain each and every component of an agent screen. Stay tuned.

I am a Server-side Linux & Web Technologies professional. I dedicate my full time working towards the overall success of my client's Businesses. I help my clients with their business communications, CRM & ERP, Internet Marketing etc. Want to work together: I'd love to hear from you.

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I am a Server-side Linux & Web Technologies professional. I dedicate my full time working towards the overall success of my client's Businesses. I help my clients with their business communications, CRM & ERP, Internet Marketing etc. Want to work together: I'd love to hear from you.